Rojen Observatory
The National Astronomical Observatory Rojen is the biggest operational scientific astrophysics complex in South-east Europe. It was opened in March, year 1981 and it is a division of the Institute of Astronomy at the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences. The scientific complex is located in a beautiful locality on a mountain ridge near the mountain peak Rojen in the Central Rhodopi mountain. The complex consists of several buildings-towers, where telescopes have been installed, a complex of apartment buildings, a weather station and the small chapel “Holy Spirit”.
The geographical coordinates of the National Astronomical Observatory Rojen are:
- Northern latitude 41° 41′ 35″
- Eastern longitude 24° 44′ 38″
- Height above sea level 1759 meters
Although, the National Astronomical Observatory Rojen does not offer any special attraction for ordinary tourists, it is visited annually by 10 000 people. Besides the beautiful panoramic view from the Observatory, tourists can look at the sky and at star bodies through the 80-ton telescope, as this is one of the few such telescopes in the world of very good quality and accessible to citizens. The National Astronomical Observatory Rojen has a two-meter-long telescope-the system Ritchie- Chretien-Coude, 50/70 cm Schmidt and 60 cm Cassegrain telescopes. Data processing calculation system is used at the observatory. The staff of this observatory consists of about 40 people and works in different fields of astronomy:
- Small bodies in the Solar system (asteroids, comets and others)
- Astrophysics of the Sun (computer simulation of active processes and magnetic hydrodynamic modeling)
- Astrophysics of the stars
- Galaxy researches
